A snatch block is a pulley assembly in which one side may be opened to receive a portion of a cable, chain, rope or other flexible line (generally referred to herein as a “cable”) that does not have any available free ends. Snatch blocks are useful, for example, in applications involving the moving, loading and unloading of cargo and other heavy loads for which it may not be practicable to fasten and unfasten cables to and from the load, for example loading or unloading onto or off of ships or aircraft. Snatch blocks may be arranged to allow transport of a load so as to avoid an obstacle in a loading path or to multiply the line pull from a winch or other hoisting device.
Known snatch blocks include a sheave that receives the cable and two side sections positioned on either side of the sheave. A block supporting hook is attached to the snatch block and allows the snatch block to be secured to a support structure. One side of the snatch block is movable with respect to the other side, for example by removing, rotating or swiveling the movable side and thereby allow a cable with fixed ends to be loaded onto the snatch block. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,543 to Rutgerson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,993 to Du Preez, U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,739 to Vick, et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,555,059 to Schrader, which are all incorporated herein by reference). Problems that may occur with the use of known snatch blocks include issues involving complexities of configuring snatch block assembly arrangements before and during loading or unloading operations, and the adjustments of line tensions during the loading or unloading operations that may be required to add, remove or modify snatch blocks.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a snatch block that may be relatively easily and quickly used and manipulated to receive a cable or other flexible line.